Updated: Brandywine Educator Named Delaware's 2017 Teacher of the Year

DOVER, Del. - Delaware Gov. Jack Markell on Tuesday announced the 2017 Teacher of the Year. Wendy Turner becomes Delaware’s nominee in 2017 national "Teacher of the Year" competition.

Wendy Turner is a second grade teacher at Mount Pleasant Elementary School in the Brandywine School District. However, teaching was not Turner’s original career plan.

After starting her career working in a large accounting firm, she found herself unfulfilled, she said in her application: “I just did not want to work in corporate America anymore … being a parent greatly changed my perspective and was a significant factor in influencing my deep desire to do something meaningful.”

After going back to school, Turner received her Master’s degree in elementary education while continuing to work full-time; and at the age of forty, she became a teacher.

As an educator she strives to make learning relevant to life outside the classroom, teaching every lesson through a real-world lens. “In each subject area, if I present opportunities for students to connect the work they do in class to the real world, students overflow with enthusiasm,” she said. “Writing about current issues that reflect students’ personal beliefs has meaning and passion. Learning the science of how plans grow is more compelling when students cultivate plants in an outdoor garden.”

Turner has also helped the community surrounding the school district as well. In one of her first years of teaching, one of Turner's student's lost their mother to cancer, and the student's father expressed his need to learn to cook. With Turner at the helm, 500 cookbooks were printed and sold to raise $5,000 for the American Cancer Society.

“Through the process, we engaged the community in a project that helped many trying to process a senseless loss. We channeled grief into a positive endeavor, a life lesson that cannot be measured,” Turner said. “My students learned how to organize, work together and champion a cause they had a direct connection to."

Turner has also been named a 2016 state finalist for the Presidential Award for Excellence in Math and Science Teaching. She previously has been honored by the Delaware Valley Green Building Council as a Green Schools “Change maker” and by the Delaware Nature Society as Outstanding Environmental Educator.

Seaford police said they arrested two people Tuesday after they allegedly tried to leave a restaurant without paying their bill. The incident escalated when one of them then fled the scene and was found armed with a bow and arrow.More

Seaford police said they arrested two people Tuesday after they allegedly tried to leave a restaurant without paying their bill. The incident escalated when one of them then fled the scene and was found armed with a bow and arrow.More

Maryland gun owners are worried about two big bills that will be discussed at the state capital next week.

House Bill 612 aims to place AR-15 HBAR rifles as a "regulated firearm." If passed by the house, the law would only grandfather in rifles purchased after October 1, 2013. Those purchased after 2013 would have to be returned.

Maryland gun owners are worried about two big bills that will be discussed at the state capital next week.

House Bill 612 aims to place AR-15 HBAR rifles as a "regulated firearm." If passed by the house, the law would only grandfather in rifles purchased after October 1, 2013. Those purchased after 2013 would have to be returned.

The mysterious plane crash on Wroten Island that WBOC reported back in November of 2018 is now being told publicly for the first time in 65 years.

After the original story aired, WBOC received an email from one of the previous owners of Wroten Island. After meeting with that man, Philip Inglehart and longtime friend, Michael Keyser the mystery unfolded on camera.

The mysterious plane crash on Wroten Island that WBOC reported back in November of 2018 is now being told publicly for the first time in 65 years.

After the original story aired, WBOC received an email from one of the previous owners of Wroten Island. After meeting with that man, Philip Inglehart and longtime friend, Michael Keyser the mystery unfolded on camera.